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Meaning & use

fell over

verb·Everyday

Last updated

UK/fel ˈəʊvə/
US/fel ˈoʊvɚ/

“fell over” is a form of “fall over”. See that entry for the full set of meanings.

Meanings

  1. verbintransitive

    Past tense of fall over: to lose your balance and drop to the ground.

    Grammar: No object: she fell over. For the cause, use over something: she fell over a rock.

    Patterns

    • fell over something
    • fell over in the snow

    The toddler fell over twice before reaching the sofa.

    He fell over a loose cable and twisted his ankle.

    I almost fell over when I saw the final bill.

  2. verbintransitive

    Past tense of fall over: to tip from an upright position onto its side, said of objects.

    Grammar: No object; the subject is a thing: the shelf fell over.

    Patterns

    • something fell over

    The tall lamp fell over when the dog ran past.

    A tower of boxes fell over in the storeroom.

    The bike fell over because the kickstand slipped.

  3. verbintransitiveinformalcomputing

    Past tense of fall over: to stop working or crash, said of a computer system or service.

    Grammar: No object; the subject is a system or server.

    Patterns

    • a server fell over

    The booking website fell over as soon as tickets went on sale.

    Our main server fell over during the update.

Common combinations

fell over backwards
He leaned on the chair and fell over backwards.
fell over a step
She fell over a step in the dark.
fell over in the street
An old man fell over in the street and strangers rushed to help.
nearly fell over
I nearly fell over laughing.
fell over with a crash
The cupboard fell over with a crash.

Synonyms and how they differ

tumbled
Tumbled suggests a rolling or clumsy fall with several turns, while fell over is a plainer, usually single drop.
toppled
Toppled is used for tall things that lose balance, and sounds more dramatic than fell over.
collapsed
Collapsed means falling down because of weakness or failure, and a person who collapsed suffered more than a simple stumble.
tripped
Tripped names the cause, catching your foot on something, while fell over names only the result.

Opposites

stood upstayed upright

Word family

fall over phrasal verb
the base form
fallen over verb
the past participle form
falling over verb
the -ing form
fall noun
an act of dropping down

Commonly confused: fell over or felled? fell over or fell off?

fell over vs felled

Felled is the past tense of the transitive verb fell, to cut down a tree, so the lumberjack felled the oak, but the oak fell over in the storm.

fell over vs fell off

Fell off means dropped from something, such as a bike, while fell over means dropped from standing upright.

Practice

Yesterday the old fence ____ in the wind.

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